"Cochise" is the first single by Audioslave for their eponymous debut album released in 2002. The single was released with a white and a black cover. The difference between the two versions besides the covers is that the black version only contains the title song, while the white version contains "We Got the Whip", a live version of "Gasoline", and the music video for "Cochise".

Contents

Cochise was the last great American Indian chief to die free and absolutely unconquered. When several members of his family were captured, tortured, and hanged by the U.S. Cavalry, Cochise declared war on the entire Southwest and went on an unholy rampage, a warpath to end all warpaths. He and his warriors drove out thousands of settlers. Cochise the avenger, fearless and resolute, attacked everything in his path with an unbridled fury.[2]

"Cochise" is played in standard E-A-D-G-B-e and B-E-A-D on the guitar and bass respectively. Tom Morello came across the intro riff by accident. He had a guitar on his lap and his delay pedal set to "slap-back" and, while writing notes for a Rage Against The Machine song, he rapidly hit the strings with a pencil. This produced a noise reminiscent of a helicopter. When Audioslave recorded this song, Morello did the same thing, with his Digitech Whammy set an octave lower, and using a flat hand to slap the strings. For the opening riff of the song Morello incorporates the helicopter sound on his guitar, while the bassist Tim Commerford plays an open E with a fast strumming technique while using distortion and a Wah pedal; the result of which is Commerford's unique bass sound which is used on the majority of Audioslave songs.

The accompanying music video, directed by Mark Romanek and produced by Aris McGarry, shows Chris Cornell on a raised platform, presumably waiting for the other members. Meanwhile, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk drive to the platform in a Chevy pickup. They take an elevator to the top of the platform where they play atop the platform with a barrage of fireworks being shot off in the background. At the end of the video they hug.

The amount of fireworks released during the filming caused nearby residents to report a possible terrorist attack.[3][4] This video has also been censored in some places, due to the fact that it has a large amount of flashing lights, and could cause epileptic fits with some people. At the beginning of the video "PLAY LOUD" appears on screen.

This video is available as a "director's cut" on the DVD The Work of Director Mark Romanek and has new footage inserted. There is more emphasis on the strobe lighting and fireworks during the video.